STUDIO Z BlogA PROJECT OF ZEITGEIST NEW MUSIC

Boston-based acoustic double-neck guitarist and composer Ian Ethan Case is quickly becoming recognized as “one of the most creative and engaging fingerstyle guitarists in the world” (International Center for Creativity.) His latest live project, PORTALS, will be presented at Studio Z on Sunday, Nov. 11. PORTALS expands on Case's creativity in the form of his "Photon Symphony," an intricate system of synchronized projections which enable a large cast of musicians to virtually join him on stage in a unique blend of virtual reality and live performance.

Inspired in part by his many performances in the Boston Museum of Science planetarium, the PORTALS project was primarily born out of Case’s newest album Earth Suite, which features twelve musicians from all over the globe and combines elements of Arabic, flamenco, jazz, classical, and Brazilian music with the energetic minimalism and rhythmic sophistication Case is becoming known for. “A lot of the musicians on the album, and really a lot of musicians today period, are simply not in a position to go on tour for several months at a time, and even if they were, we’re just not at a level yet where we could afford to bring 12 musicians on the road. But I really wanted people to hear these incredibly unique, one-of-a-kind instrumentalists, and I also really want people to hear these songs the way they’re meant to be heard, with the full orchestration.”

Case’s wife, live sound and electronics specialist Stephanie Case, has for years played a crucial role in bringing to life concerts that, in terms of scope, significantly exceed expectations for a solo performance. “For the past several years we’ve really tried to stretch the solo format as far as possible, and Stephanie has taken live looping and live sound design to the next level in an effort to communicate these songs as fully as we could. But the newer songs really demand the unique qualities of the specific musicians on the album, and we were hungry to break out of the looping box entirely. The constraints we were faced with ended up leading us to this whole new concept for what a live concert experience can be.”